Characterization of DC Arc Flash Events Generated by Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices
Abstract
The directed energy (DE) community faces many challenges as they move towards fielding repetitive operation systems onto mobile air, land, and sea platforms. Until recently, most DE research has been performed in a controlled laboratory setting with most of the em phasis placed on designing and validating new pulsed power supply and load architectures. Recent forward progress in those areas has shifted some of the focus to designing prime power supplies, power electronic voltage regulators, and integrating them into mobile power systems. Electrochemical energy storage has emerged as a viable DC prime power candidate and voltages as high as 1 kVDC have b een studied. Unlike AC systems, DC systems do not have a zero crossing and when a short circuit event occurs, it is very difficult t o interrupt the current. When short circuit currents occur in the form of an arc flash, it does not take much energy to become extre mely dangerous for any personnel located near it. Both AC and DC arc flash have been studied previously. In the case of DC arc flash , the published work is either modeling focused or DC power supplies are used to form open air arc flashes. While this is all useful work, experiments need to be performed with real electrochemical lithium-ion batteries to fully characterize the current within the possible arcs and to establish a baseline for the personal protection equipment (PPE) that system operators should be wearing. This proposal aims to study open air arcs on lithium-ion chemistries at the cell and low voltage module levels. DC arc flash testing at the 1 kV level is proposed using high voltage film capacitors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 20, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112783
Entities
People
- David A. Wetz
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Texas at Arlington